Manon Lescaut

“The sweetest moments of their lives are those they spend, either alone or with a friend, discoursing freely and openly upon the charms of virtue, the pleasures of friendship, the ways and means of reaching happiness, the weaknesses in our nature that prevent us from achieving it, and the remedies by which these might be cured.”

Prévost, through Renoncour, makes the case for publishing Manon Lescaut as a lesson in morality. He argues that people enjoy contemplating, either on their own or in conversation with others, how humans can best achieve happiness, what human frailties might interfere with this happiness, and how to cure such frailties. Prévost/Renoncour insist that Manon and Des Grieux’s story provides readers with examples of such frailties so they might better recognize and remedy their own faults before they ruin their lives, like Des Grieux.

“It was against her will that she was being sent to the convent, in order, no doubt, to check that predisposition to pleasure which had already declared itself, and which has since been the cause of all her misfortunes and of mine.” 

Here is the first instance of Des Grieux blaming Manon for all their misfortune. However, careful reading reveals that Des Grieux does not know why Manon was sent to the convent. It also reveals the double standards of the time: Des Grieux is entering the church as a natural consequence of his good breeding and virtuous behavior; Manon is being forced to enter the church as punishment for a supposed natural lack of virtue.

“My heart opened up to a thousand pleasurable emotions, of which I had not had the least idea. A gentle warmth spread through my veins. I was in a kind of transport, which for a time deprived me of the power of speech and found expression only through my eyes.” 

Here Des Grieux reveals his sensibility, his ability to feel higher emotions like love, which is so powerful that it renders him speechless. The language Des Grieux uses to describe love mirrors the language used by addicts to describe the sensations caused by illicit substances. In a sense, Manon is a drug to which Des Grieux is addicted, and he will do anything to keep her.

“It seemed to me so impossible that Manon should have betrayed me that I feared I was insulting her even by suspecting it. I adored her, there was no question of that; I had given her no proofs of love greater than those I had received from her; why then should I accuse her of being less sincere and less constant than I was? What reason could she have had to deceive me? It was only three hours ago that she had heaped the tenderest caresses upon me, and had received mine with rapture; I did not know my own heart better than I knew hers. No, no, I continued, it is impossible that Manon should betray me.” 

Des Grieux’s insistence on Manon’s innocence here is an excellent example of Prévost’s use of irony. The audience fully understands that Manon is cheating on Des Grieux, which prompts them to empathize with him. Although the reader clearly reads the signs that Des Grieux does not, they nonetheless, much like Des Grieux, desperately want to be wrong.

“If it is true that divine aid is at any moment as powerful a force as passion, let someone explain to me by what evil star we find ourselves suddenly swept away, along a course that deflects us from our duty, unable to offer the least resistance or feel the least remorse.” 

This statement reveals Des Grieux’s penchant for heresy. He questions whether God is as powerful as the church claims. If God is that powerful, Des Grieux asks, then why is his love for Manon stronger than his love of virtue? These arguments shock not only other characters, such as Tiberge, but also the reader. Note that Des Grieux is telling this story in retrospect; he is not remembering what he thought at the time but what he still believes now, which calls his repentance into question.

“I was filled with terror; I trembled, as at night, when you find yourself in an isolated stretch of country: it is as if you have been transported to a whole new order of being; you are seized with a secret dread, from which you recover only after examining your surroundings at length.” 

Des Grieux describes his reaction to seeing Manon after two years, again emphasizing his susceptibility to emotion. However, he describes his feelings as unpleasant, even horrific, which foreshadows Des Grieux’s continued corruption and the story’s tragic end.

“Nothing is more wonderful, or honours virtue more, than the confidence with which we turn to people whose probity we have long been acquainted with. With them, we feel, we run no risk. Even if they cannot always help us, at least we are certain of receiving from them only kindness and compassion.” 

Des Grieux meditates on the satisfactions of friendship as he prepares to once more ask Tiberge for help but ignores the many ways he has harmed Tiberge. Indeed, Des Grieux seems unaware of his own arrogance here in assuming that Tiberge will show him “kindness and compassion” despite his behavior, which is antithetical to everything Tiberge believes.

“But to what alternatives do I find myself reduced, if I must either deny you the only help you will accept or, if I offer it to you, offend against my duty; for, in helping you persevere in your dissolute ways, do I not become a party to them?” 

Tiberge grapples with a dilemma familiar to many. He disapproves of Des Grieux’s behavior and does not want to encourage or enable it. On the other hand, he does not want to see Des Grieux upset or hurt. This again reflects the discourse of addiction: Des Grieux is addicted to Manon and will stop at nothing to be with her. Should Tiberge help Des Grieux and possibly prevent him from doing something reckless and dangerous, or should Tiberge refuse to help him in the hopes of forcing Des Grieux to see the error of his ways? Tiberge ultimately gives Des Grieux the money, but his words reveal his inner struggle.

“I soon profited from my master’s lessons. I acquired, above all, great facility in handling the cards, in flipping, foisting, and palming them, and, with the assistance of a long pair of cuffs, in making them disappear and reappear so dexterously as to deceive the keenest eye and to ruin, without ceremony, any number of honest players.” 

Des Grieux describes the skills he learns during his training to be a card sharp. This boasting reveals Des Grieux’s pride and arrogance. Though he supposedly only told his audience how virtuous and beloved he was to make them understand the sheer power of his attraction to Manon, here this boasting serves no purpose, particularly because he is boasting of being good at cheating, which is most definitely not the behavior of a noble and honorable man.

“Farewell, weak and ungrateful friend. May your criminal pleasures dissolve like shadows! May your prosperity and fortune perish without recall, while you remain alone and naked, knowing at last the vanity of those worldly things with which, in your madness, you are intoxicated. Only then will you find me ready to love and serve you, but today I break off all connection with you, and I abhor the life you are leading.” 

These are Tiberge’s words to Des Grieux after Des Grieux “exercise[d] [his] wit at [Tiberge’s] expense” (44) by pointing out that many powerful men in the church kept mistresses. Tiberge had been lecturing Des Grieux after lending him money once again, but Tiberge’s lecture on morality fails to move Des Grieux, who mocks him instead.

Tiberge’s anger is understandable: He has continued to support Des Grieux despite his abhorrence of Des Grieux’s dissolute lifestyle. However, Tiberge’s words also foreshadow the end of Des Grieux’s story. His pleasures do dissolve, and he is left “alone and naked” after Manon’s death. Furthermore, although Tiberge continues to help him, it is only after Manon’s death that Tiberge comes back into Des Grieux’s life “ready to love and serve [him].”

“She is afraid of going hungry. God of love! What vulgarity of feeling! And what a way of responding to the delicacy of mine! Was I afraid of hunger, I who, renouncing my fortune and the comforts of my father’s house, exposed myself so readily to it for her sake?” 

Des Grieux’s reaction to Manon’s letter, in which she reveals that she will become M. de G…M…’s mistress to help support him financially, reveals the contrast between sense and sensibility. Des Grieux views Manon’s concern about “going hungry” as “vulgar” and feels she does not comprehend the “delicacy” and superiority of his feelings. Des Grieux’s reaction reveals his privilege: He has indeed “renounce[ed] [his] fortune and the comforts of [his] father’s house” but could return to it at any time, provided he repents. Manon has no such safety net.

“But people whose characters are more noble can be stirred in a thousand different ways; it is as if they had more than five senses, and could receive ideas and sensations that transcend the ordinary limits of human nature. And since they are conscious of possessing this superiority that raises them above the common herd, there is nothing of which they are more jealous. This is why they suffer contempt and ridicule with such impatience, and why shame is one of their most violent passions.” 

Des Grieux fully explains the supposed differences between the nobility and the commoner. Here he tries to explain why his imprisonment at Saint-Lazare is much more difficult for him than it would be for someone like Lescaut. Such men “are susceptible to only five or six passions, within whose compass they live their whole lives,” whereas men like himself are subject to the higher emotions and feel them more keenly than others do. This is a key explanation of the concept of sensibility and a demonstration of Des Grieux’s inherent arrogance. He literally believes himself superior because of his ability to feel shame, and this ability “raises [him] above the common herd.”

“He told us he had never seen such angelic sweetness; that she had not once spoken a harsh word to him; that she had wept continuously during the first six weeks of her stay there, but that for some time now she seemed to bear her misfortune with greater patience; and that she busied herself with her sewing from dawn till dusk, except for a few hours which she spent reading.” 

The words of the man guarding Manon at the reformatory summarize the reaction of every man who meets her. They also provide growing evidence for Manon’s increasing goodness: She has behaved nobly while in the reformatory, initially crying as expected of a woman but then bearing her lot patiently. Sewing would have been required of her, as such reformatories were meant to provide women like Manon with some way of contributing to society, but the reading indicates that Manon is trying to improve herself of her own volition.

“Love is mightier than wealth, mightier than riches and plenty; but it needs their support; and nothing causes the fastidious lover deeper despair than to see himself reduced, through their lack, to the vulgar concerns of baser souls.” 

Des Grieux laments that he has become one of those “baser souls” vulgarly concerned with money. Despite what he wants to believe, money is clearly necessary for both him and Manon to live. He blames their financial problems on Manon’s love of pleasure, claiming that she could not “endure for a moment the fear of having to do without it” (43). However, the truth is they need money to pay for necessities like food and lodging. Des Grieux cannot reconcile this fact with his understanding of love as “mightier than wealth, mightier than riches and plenty.”

“Here is the man I love, the man I have vowed to love my whole life long. Make the comparison yourself. If you think you can vie with him for my heart, pray tell me on what grounds? For I assure you that, in the eyes of your very humble servant, all the princes in Italy are not worth a single one of these hairs I have in my hand.” 

This passage is one of the few in which Manon speaks for herself. These words demonstrate her love for Des Grieux as well as her wit; she set up both Des Grieux and the Italian prince as part of her elaborate joke. Indeed, while Des Grieux feels some discomfort at the prince’s embarrassment, Manon sees only the humor. This again reveals the subtle differences between Des Grieux and Manon in terms of sensibility.

“I have observed, throughout my life, that Heaven has always chosen the moment when my fortunes seemed at their most secure to inflict its cruellest punishments on me.” 

Here Des Grieux comments on the circular structure of his life with Manon. He correctly notes that just when he happiest, some terrible thing happens to ruin that happiness. However, by blaming heaven he fails to acknowledge his own role in his downfall. Here, for example, begins the section in which Des Grieux and Manon try to defraud M. de G…M…’s son despite having been previously arrested for the very same trick.

Des Grieux blames Manon, or, rather, his inability to refuse Manon anything she desires. However, in each case Des Grieux is the one who extends the fraud into humiliation. Des Grieux mocks and humiliates the elder M. de G…M… and terrorizes the son by having him abducted. Had he not needed to prove his superiority to them, he and Manon could have avoided arrest.

“How can Heaven treat so harshly the most perfect of its works? Why were we not born, both of us, with qualities consistent with our miserable lot? We have been given intelligence, feeling, taste. But alas, what a melancholy use we make of them, while so many baser souls, who deserve our fate, enjoy all the favours of fortune!” 

Des Grieux’s lament, after being arrested yet again, is contradictory. He blames Heaven for treating them badly but also acknowledges that they have misused their “intelligence, feeling, taste” before again pointing out the unfairness that “baser souls” do not suffer such treatment. This is representative of Des Grieux’s overall character. He knows full well that his behavior is sinful but never accepts the consequences of his behavior.

“Love has made me too tender, too passionate, too faithful, and too ready, perhaps, to indulge the desires of a mistress who is all enchantment. These are my crimes. But is any of them so shameful as to bring you into dishonour? Surely, dear father, I added tenderly, you can spare a little compassion for a son who has always been filled with respect and affection for you, who has not, as you suppose, renounced all honour and duty, and who is a thousand times more to be pitied than you could imagine.” 

Des Grieux attempts to convince his father that nothing he has done has been that bad. However, Des Grieux has done several dishonorable things: He lives in sin with a commoner, he cheats at cards to support himself, he has been arrested twice, and during his escape from his first prison, he killed a man to free himself and has never shown any remorse. Des Grieux argues that none of these things are that different from what other young noblemen have done, and Des Grieux’s father is indeed moved by his speech. This demonstrates Des Grieux’s facility with language and his ability to use it to manipulate others.

“Everyone persecutes or betrays me […]. There is no longer anyone I can depend on. I can expect nothing further, either from Fortune or my fellow men. My misfortunes crowd in on me from every side: I have no choice left but to submit to them. I must shut my eyes to every hope.”

Des Grieux’s speech to the guardsmen, whom he hired to help him attack those guarding Manon before she is transported to America, again reveals the twisted way in which he understands his situation. Rather than acknowledging his own role in his current situation, he blames fate and his friends and family, even though his friends and family have repeatedly tried to help him.

“I know very well that I have never deserved the extraordinary attachment you feel for me. I have grieved you in ways you could never have pardoned, but for your extreme goodness to me. I have been fickle and flighty; and in spite of loving you to distraction, as I have always done, I have been the most ungrateful of creatures. But you would not believe how much I have changed. The tears you have seen me shed so often since we left France have never once had my own misfortunes as their object. I stopped feeling those, the moment you began sharing them. I have wept solely out of tenderness and compassion for you.” 

Another rare occasion when Manon speaks, this marks her completed transformation not only into a faithful woman but also into Des Grieux’s cult of sensibility. Prior to this speech, Des Grieux had been alarmed by her behavior, stating, “I began to fear for her life, so violent was her emotion” (129). However, the scene demonstrates how much Manon has changed. Before this, she was unable to feel the way Des Grieux did, and felt only what Des Grieux termed vulgar or base emotions. Now she feels shame, which Des Grieux has declared “one of [the] most violent passions” (57) experienced by those condemned to sensitivity of emotion. Manon’s ability to feel shame reveals the transformation of her personality and her soul.

“What is there to complain of? […] I have everything my heart desires. Do you not love me? What other happiness have I ever aspired to? Let us commend ourselves to Heaven’s care. Not that I think our position so very desperate. The Governor is a decent man; he treats us with respect; he will not let us lack the necessities of life. As to the meanness of our cabin and the crudeness of our furniture, you will have noticed that there are very few people here who seem better housed than we are, or who have better furnishings; besides, you are an admirable alchemist, I added embracing her, you turn everything to gold.” 

Des Grieux’s words in the face of Manon’s dismay at their living conditions in America demonstrate how Des Grieux is putting on a brave face for Manon, having learned before that she will be calm and content if he is calm and content as well. They also illustrate how the colony represents paradise and freedom to Des Grieux. Not only are they free to live together as husband and wife without the condemnation of society, here there are no luxuries, and so Des Grieux need not earn money to please Manon.

“I was steady in my conduct, Manon no less so. We let no opportunity pass of doing some good turn or service to our neighbours. Our willingness to oblige, and our mild-mannered ways, won us the trust and affection of the entire colony. We were soon so well regarded that we were considered the foremost people in the town, after the Governor himself.” 

Des Grieux’s words here are reminiscent of how he describes himself at various points in the story, particularly at the beginning, where he claimed he was so virtuous he “that [his] teachers held [him] up as an example to the entire college” (11). They also foreshadow some tragic event, as has happened each time Des Grieux believes himself and Manon to be happy.

However, unlike the previous instances, where Des Grieux and Manon are separated by attempting to defraud someone, here they are separated by revealing the truth in an attempt to legitimize their relationship through the church. What Des Grieux fails to realize is that by lying about his marriage to Manon, he has in fact defrauded the members of the colony.

“I stripped myself of my clothes, hoping to make the ground seem less hard by spreading them beneath her. I persuaded her, against her will, to let me use every means I could devise to lessen her discomfort. I warmed her hands with burning kisses and the ardour of my sighs. I spent the whole night watching over her, and imploring Heaven to grant her a sweet and peaceful sleep. How urgent and sincere, dear God, were my prayers! And how harshly must I have been judged, for you to disdain to answer them!” 

Des Grieux describes his efforts to make Manon comfortable after they flee New Orleans. He even removes his clothing to make her a bed, which is evidence of his love and concern for Manon, who is newly sensitive to emotional upheaval.

It also fulfills Tiberge’s earlier warning to Des Grieux that his pursuit of only pleasure would result in him being “alone and naked, knowing at last the vanity of those worldly things with which, in your madness, you are intoxicated” (45). This is indeed how he is discovered after Manon’s death, which represents that he is returning to the path of virtue that he walked prior to meeting Manon.